The Honeymoon is Over
Dear Scotland,
The honeymoon is over. That's right, over. I came here last winter and I figured it was the worst and if I could survive the worst the rest would be smooth sailing. Everyone ran around tutting about how it was the worst winter in 14 years, in 20 years, and I was fine. It was cold and I bought more longjohns and knit hats and mittens and spring came and I got all excited to see leaves and flowers and it warmed up and I went back to California for the summer and came back in August and it was lovely and then the flowers and leaves faded and winter came and it was 10 degrees (Celsius) less than last winter, last winter which was the worst winter in almost two decades, and I wore more layers and knit more hats and cuddled under a blanket even when the heat was on and I have to admit I felt pretty bait-and-switched. When it started snowing again in March (which, to be fair, it did last year as well) I was ready to throw myself off of the roof of a tall building.
But it was just winter. Winter eventually ends and once more there were leaves and flowers and the days got longer (and longer and longer and longer - today the sun rose at 4:20 and will set at 10:10, to be followed by a long, lingering dusk - there's still light through the curtains at midnight when we got to sleep) but this isn't summer. We had a couple of nice days in April when it was sunny for a week, though even on the "hot" days (20 degrees) it was still very windy and felt much cooler. May was a complete waste - it rained seemingly every day and when it wasn't raining it was cloudy, except for maybe an hour of sunshine, scattered across the day in maybe 10-minute increments.
And now it's June. We did have two nice days, last Thursday and Friday, when it was 20 and sunny with a light breeze and perfect but that only makes this worse, back to cloud cover and cold. So far today it's reached a high of 8 (though it's supposed to get up to 16) and it's so dismal and grey that we've had lights on in the house since we woke up. It feels like November. So I'm asking - where is my summer? It doesn't even have to be hot - 22 feels wonderful after living here for 10 months! - just sunny and warm.
One of my classmates told me that putting up with the weather is worth it to live somewhere without natural disasters. The occasional earthquake seems like a small price to pay for sunny and warm.
Formerly yours,
Jennifer
The honeymoon is over. That's right, over. I came here last winter and I figured it was the worst and if I could survive the worst the rest would be smooth sailing. Everyone ran around tutting about how it was the worst winter in 14 years, in 20 years, and I was fine. It was cold and I bought more longjohns and knit hats and mittens and spring came and I got all excited to see leaves and flowers and it warmed up and I went back to California for the summer and came back in August and it was lovely and then the flowers and leaves faded and winter came and it was 10 degrees (Celsius) less than last winter, last winter which was the worst winter in almost two decades, and I wore more layers and knit more hats and cuddled under a blanket even when the heat was on and I have to admit I felt pretty bait-and-switched. When it started snowing again in March (which, to be fair, it did last year as well) I was ready to throw myself off of the roof of a tall building.
But it was just winter. Winter eventually ends and once more there were leaves and flowers and the days got longer (and longer and longer and longer - today the sun rose at 4:20 and will set at 10:10, to be followed by a long, lingering dusk - there's still light through the curtains at midnight when we got to sleep) but this isn't summer. We had a couple of nice days in April when it was sunny for a week, though even on the "hot" days (20 degrees) it was still very windy and felt much cooler. May was a complete waste - it rained seemingly every day and when it wasn't raining it was cloudy, except for maybe an hour of sunshine, scattered across the day in maybe 10-minute increments.
And now it's June. We did have two nice days, last Thursday and Friday, when it was 20 and sunny with a light breeze and perfect but that only makes this worse, back to cloud cover and cold. So far today it's reached a high of 8 (though it's supposed to get up to 16) and it's so dismal and grey that we've had lights on in the house since we woke up. It feels like November. So I'm asking - where is my summer? It doesn't even have to be hot - 22 feels wonderful after living here for 10 months! - just sunny and warm.
One of my classmates told me that putting up with the weather is worth it to live somewhere without natural disasters. The occasional earthquake seems like a small price to pay for sunny and warm.
Formerly yours,
Jennifer